In defense of a One Percenter

It’s not pretty, but that’s my job.

As most people who might stumble across this blog probably already know, there is a national-news level story going around right now about peaceful protesters being pepper-sprayed—repeatedly and at close range—by cops at a Northern California university.



The footage is shocking. The cop walking back and forth in front of the kids sitting on the ground looks he’s using a garden hose, and holding it about a foot from their faces. One early official excuse was that the police had to zap ’em because the protestors were creating an impediment they couldn’t get around, until footage surfaced of cops stepping over the sitting protestors in order to pepper-spray them in the face instead of their backs.

This is some very bad policing. The cops involved should be fired, the hiring process examined—the dope in H.R. who thought this cop would be a good hire should be let go, too—and maybe establish a student/civilian oversight panel, to remind the police that we’re watching them as they watch us. Heads should roll, but they ought to be the right heads.

Why do I mention this, when it should be obvious? Because now there is a hew and cry brewing up for the Chancellor to resign, and if this example of police misconduct is the only reason why, I have to call Bullshit. They must have other axes to grind with their boss already… imagine that. Wouldn’t it be cool if in every work environment, the employees could get together and fire their boss?

There wouldn’t be a boss left employed in America.

The school’s faculty association, which is calling for the Chancellor’s resignation, described the incident as “a gross failure of leadership.” I’m not sure, but I’m willing to bet she didn’t personally hire the bad cop(s) in question, nor green-light the pepper-spraying of sitting protesters.

What it was, was a gross failure of policing. It was a couple of douchebag bully cops, too stupid to remember that in 2011—especially on a University of California campus—everybody is walking around with a video camera in their cell phone. These pepper-sprayers should be fired for their sheer stupidity, even in the unlikely event some review panel eventually proclaims their actions warranted.

I’ve also read complaints that the police provoked the protesters by showing up in riot gear. Come on. It only takes one or two bomb-throwing anarchists to turn a peaceful rally into a violent free-for-all. “Occupy” rallies in other cities have taken violent turns (probably started by douchebag anarchists) recently, even in hippie cities like Berkeley, just down the road from Davis. What’s a law enforcement officer to do?

If I’m the Top Cop in town and I hear an angry mob of students is gathering to protest, and in the wake of other similar, nearby protests turning violent, I’m not going to send my crowd-control officers in wearing Hawaiian shirts and open-toed sandals. They’re gonna go in hoping for the best, but outfitted for the worst.

And if I’m the Chancellor, I’m probably relaxing in the drawing room of my million-dollar mansion sipping a martini, and the first thing I hear about the incident is when all my phones start ringing at once.

Which is not, to my way of thinking, a firing offense.